Amherst Survival Center asks for new sidewalk on Sunderland Road

AMHERST – Officials from the Amherst Survival Center are hoping the town will agree to a request for a new sidewalk on Sunderland Road.

The center bought the former Rooster’s Restaurant in July and hopes to move in within a few years.

In a letter to the Select Board, Cheryl Zoll, the executive director, asked that the public works department put in about 1,500 feet of sidewalk from just north of 1200 N. Pleasant St. to 138 Sunderland Road.

Town Manager John P. Musante said he wants the Public Works Committee to look at the request within the context of town sidewalk needs. Town roads are in major need of repairs so the focus is on that for now. Town Meeting is being asked to approve a $4.5 million bond bill to begin attacking the $19 million backlog in road repair projects.

The committee will then be able to inform the Select Board.

But Jan Eidelson, the president of the center’s Board of Trustees, said, “We really hope it happens.” She said if someone gets off at the bus stop and tries to walk to the new site, there is no sidewalk.

“We provide a safety net for people.” She said she’d hate to see someone get hurt trying to get that help.

Eidelson said the board is preparing for its capital campaign to raise the necessary money for the move. The center bought the building for $265,000.

The Survival Center has been in the basement of the town-owned North Amherst School on North Pleasant Street since 1975. In recent years, the center has expanded its services and that has put a strain on the limited space. Also, the number of people seeking help has risen.

The former restaurant has a kitchen and will provide about twice as much space. But the building – closed for more than two years – needs extensive renovations and an addition needs to be built.